Repod

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Synonyms: podremix, multipod, simulpod
See also: podfic
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A repod is a podfic of a fanfic that has already been podficced. The term can also be used as a verb: to repod.

Repods are most often created by a different podficcer, but fans have been known to revisit fics they've podded before (usually on purpose, sometimes to create a multi-voice version of a previously single-voiced work, or vice-versa; rarely because they forgot they podficced the story once already[1]).

In the early years of podfic fandom, repods were rare as deliberately re-recording an existing podfic was often considered useless, a faux-pas or even a slight to the previous podfic(cer). This norm changed in the 2010s thanks to some members of the podfic community making a conscious decision to encourage repods. Therefore, some of the earliest repods were deliberate, and for a time, podficcers who found themselves accidentally recording the same story at the same time tried to coordinate posting schedules.

The likelihood of accidental repods rose with the increasing popularity of blanket permission. More and more podficcers started vocally advocating for repodding as a normal, desirable practice in the community.

In 2014, a pod_aware podcast suggested multipod as a broader term to describe the existence of multiple podfic versions of a fanfic.[2] Simulpod also exists, referring to the simultaneous creation of multiple versions.

Controversy

Early Debate

The practice of repodding was controversial until at least 2010.

On the side of the fic writers, blanket permission was still quite rare. It was usual for writers to authorize one podfic, mostly on a first-come, first-served basis, and turn down all subsequent podficcing requests.

This led to a practice of "calling dibs" among some podficcers: asking for permission as soon as possible after a story's release, even if they weren't available to start work on the story right away.

On the side of podficcers, exmanhater summarized her initial feelings about repods, which mirrored many podficcers', in a 2014 post called Many voices, or how I learned to stop worrying and love repods:

I felt kind of territorial about my podfic, as if someone else creating their own version (repod/simulpod) would somehow highlight problems with mine, or that fewer people would want to listen to or comment on mine. There was a little tingle of "dammit, I wanted to do that" when I found a podfic for a story I'd wanted to record.

In Feb 2010, a poll by SPN podficcer juice817 asked podfic listeners and creators their opinion on repods (amongst other topics):

How many audio versions does a story need?

*One. Once someone has recorded it, there's no need for someone else to do so as well.

*Probably just one, but there are circumstances when another recording is acceptable, and I will tell you what they are in comments.

*As many as the author allows.

*Why put a limit on it? After all, multiple artists frequently cover the same song. How is this different?

juice817, 2010[3]

50.9% of respondents chose the last option, meaning that close to half still thought repods should be limited in some way. Comments on cases in which repods should be 'allowed' mostly focused on bad audio quality and personal preference regarding readers' voices and styles -- illustrating fears in the podfic community that repods might be seen as an indictment of the existing version.

A series of questions and debates took place on the subject of multiple versions within podfic fandom:

Generally the reason I ask permission is that the current thinking seems to be that once someone has 'claimed' a fic for podficcing purposes, that's the only version of podfic there'll be. What're other perspectives on that?

comment by nny on "Should readers get permission to make podfic?" 2010[4]

See also FayJay's post The ethics of multiple recordings and calling dibs, posted in amplificathon in August 28, 2010, or the conversation in podficmeta in August 2010:

How would you feel if someone PM-ed you to say that, er, they'd just recorded something you're working on? Would you go ahead with your project, or abandon it? Would you be okay with both releasing versions simultaneously, to make it into some kind of event? Would you feel okay about it so long as you were allowed to release your version first, and a week or a month or something went by before the other one were released into the aether? Would you make a small voodoo doll of Evil Podficcing Git In Question and stab it repeatedly, and rend your hair and gnash your teeth, and then politely say that it was all fine, whilst inwardly feeling furious/gutted? Would you prefer that they just stfu and let you get on with recording the story you'd called dibs on?

Some responses were negative, considering repods "a waste of time"[5].

The issue of WIPs was a common sticking point: several podficcers stated that while they did not want to discourage the practice in theory or were comfortable with the idea, knowing that a repod of their WIP was happening might discourage them:

I would probably be a tad unhappy, because your recording's much better than mine and it takes me much much longer. In other words, the story you recorded and were able to release in an evening, might have already had a dozen hours of recording and editing in it on my end, and I'm not sure i'd be willing to put more time into it and then would feel I'd wasted that time.

But see, those are all *my* issues! There's nothing in there that you did wrong or that'd make you a bad fan or friend, y'know.

podcath, 2010[6]

I have gotten to a point of being pretty happy and comfortable with the idea of somebody making their own version of any podfic I've already done.

The one thing that would still feel awful to me is if somebody took the WIP that I'm actively in the middle of (and almost finished with after months and months) and released a completed version of it before I was able to finish it. If they waned to release it simultaneously, I think I'd be grudgingly okay with that, and if they wanted to release it a week or more after, I'd be totally okay with it. I've put so many hours of work into it, though, and I know that a lot of listeners out there *will* basically just listen to the first version they find of a story they like, so if someone else beat me to it, I think it would translate to a lot of people just never giving my reading a chance, and I have worked *so* hard and long on my reading, y'know?

klb, 2010[7]

Others were outright positive about the idea.

anatsuno mentioned an early attempt to precipitate change by coordinating the release of simultaneous podfics of A Beautiful Lifetime Event with general_jinjur as early as 2009[8]:

I personally encourage EVERYBODY, as much as I can to stop thinking about podfic that way. I mean, I worked alongside Jinjur on a version of a Beautiful Lifetime Event so we could release both our versions at the same time (the poor woman had to wait for me; she was done much sooner), and we plotted this as a purposeful, 'spectacular' way to advertise our opinion that several podfics of the same story is a great, positive thing.

anatsuno, 2010[9]

Novembersmith gave a writer's point of view, saying:

As an author, I think multiple recordings are AWESOME -- everyone brings something new and exciting and interesting to the table, and I adore hearing other people's takes on a story. But I do know that some podficcers feel differently, so I try to keep track of everyone who's made a request or called dibs on something. If something gets double-dibbed, or whatnot, then I can put the two artists in contact with each other and let them hash out what works for them. But I do let it be known that I love multiples, so. IDK, maybe I should stay out of it entirely?

novembersmith, 2010[10]

Encouraging Repods

In response to the 2010 controversy, multipodicity, an annual repod challenge community, was created in 2010 by paraka. Explaining why she created the community, paraka said:

Icon created by mific for the multipodicity repod challenge comm
I'm hoping that running a challenge like this will help with the stigma that currently exists around multiple podfics of the same story. People seem to think that if someone makes a podfic of something that's already been podficed it's because they found the first podfic lacking in some way. Never mind that there are a lot of other reasons someone might want to podfic the story.

This challenge won't be about that though, it'll be about some of the other reasons you might want to podfic a story that has already been done. Like it's fun! And different! You really love the story in question! Hopefully this will help people realize that just because two podfics are a reading of the same story doesn't mean that they are copies of each other (podfic is not just a format shift from text to audio, it's an art form, a performance), or that one is necessarily better than the other. Just like a cover of a song can bring a new dimension/feel to the song being covered.[11]

In a November 2011 pod_aware podcast, paraka commented that repodding had become much less controversial.[12] In their 2014 pod_aware podcast, paraka, bessyboo, and exmanhater agreed that repodding was no longer controversial, though acknowledging that some people still might not like it.[2]

The rise in repods was also a result in Blanket Permission becoming more common, and on top of providing readers with more options to listen to a story, had positive consequences for the podfic community itself:

Repods only *not* happen if you ask someone to police permission. [...] Not to mention the pressure it puts on the original requester to complete the podfic quickly or officially drop out! If I knew story X was off-limits to anyone while I was working on it - and I've had to drop projects before bc it wasn't working for whatever reason - it would very much put a wrench in my process.

I think the existence of repods really adds something to the... I'm going to say "artistic cred" of podfic, even though I sound like a wanker! :p [...] If you go from the point of view that podfic is only a format shift, then sure, you only ever need one. But if podfic is something more than merely reading words like a text-reader can, then multiple version WILL add something and they ARE valuable, you know?

greedy_dancer comment on exmanhater's post, 2014[13]

More events, such as Voiceteam, kept prompting podficcers to voluntarily create several versions of the same story, for example with the "My Turn" challenge ("Repod something recorded earlier for this year of Voiceteam by any player"[14]) or the "Multipodicity" challenge ("Make a multivoice audio fanwork with multiple team members, or simultaneously release multiple podfics of the same story with one or more team members"[15]).

By 2021, the practice was definitely considered normal by podficcers familiar with podficcing etiquette, though some listeners sometimes still expressed confusion or frustration, often prompting spirited responses from the podfic community. One such occasion prompted greedy_dancer to write up A(n incomplete) list of reasons there might be several podfics of the same story, which listed 32 reasons why multiple versions of the same story might exist; other podficcers added more reasons in the reblogs.[16]

Examples of Repodding

Simultaneous release. Knight_tracer's version is 50 minutes longer than Jenepel's.

Podfics of The Accidental Warlord and His Pack:

Podfics of "'like' it or not," a Social Media AU:

The most repods?

Further Discussions & Meta

Podcasts

Archives & Links

  • Repod tag at Ao3. Accidental Repod is a subcategory of this tag.

References

  1. ^ reena_jenkins podded a DCU fic, Smile by zarabithia, for an anthology in 2015 and then again in 2017 for ITPE.
  2. ^ a b Podcast on Multipods by ladybessyboo, exmanhater, and paraka. Made for Pod Aware 2014., Tumblr post 12 November 2014.
  3. ^ Poll! (archived) by juice817, posted to LJ Feb 7, 2010
  4. ^ Should readers get permission to make podfic? by jesse_the_k First posted January 22, 2010.
  5. ^ juice817, in response to "Should readers get permission to make podfic?" posted in podficmeta, posted February 5, 2010.
  6. ^ podcath, in response to "Calling Dibs and Cover Versions" posted in podficmeta, August 29, 2010.
  7. ^ podklb, in response to "Calling Dibs and Cover Versions" posted in amplificathon, August 28, 2010.
  8. ^ See anatsuno's entry and jinjurly's entry.
  9. ^ anatsuno, in response to "Should readers get permission to make podfic?" posted in podficmeta, Jan 22, 2010.
  10. ^ novembersmith, in response to "Calling Dibs and Cover Versions" posted in amplificathon, August 28, 2010.
  11. ^ paraka, Welcome to the Podfic Repod Challenge. July 30, 2010.
  12. ^ Podcast by bessyboo, knight_tracer and paraka, posted in pod_aware. Pod Aware Day 6 - Repodding!, 12 November 2011
  13. ^ greedy_dancer comment on "Many voices, or how I learned to stop worrying and love repods", posted Jan 12, 2014
  14. ^ Week 4: Endings-->Beginnings, Voiceteam, May 21st, 2020
  15. ^ Round 1: Introductions, Voiceteam, May 6, 2021
  16. ^ greedydancer, A(n incomplete) list of reasons there might be several podfics of the same story, Archived version, tumblr post, January 27, 2021.
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